


Toxic Chocolate

by mongoosling



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Valentine's Day, can be interpreted as platonic if one so choses, krarepairweek2018, prompt - holiday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-13 20:27:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13578339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mongoosling/pseuds/mongoosling
Summary: Shiro thinks Valentine’s day traditions are pretty neat, Kuroh thinks they are stupid. Neko thinks they are absolutely delicious! Aka Hakumaitou celebrate Valentine’s day!





	Toxic Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> Written for K-Project Rare Pair Week! Please enjoy :D The prompt for this submission was Holidays!

There was this funny kind of look on her face as the date approached. The various marketing teams initiated by the Gold Clan took advantage of a consumer driven society by spreading posters, advertising new flavors, and invading every store, from the corner supermarkets to the bustling shopping malls in the center of the city.

Valentine’s Day was looming, and with it the rest -- the color pink, the aroma of roses and cocoa powder, hopeful glances, and broken hearts. 

For the members of the Silver Clan, Valentine’s Day did not live up to the expected hype for various reasons. 

Seeing as Shiro had spent a majority of his everlasting lifespan in isolation, he found within himself an appreciation for the intentions behind it, but nothing much more beyond that. The candy sweet reminders did not strike any deep sense of motivation within, seeing as he’d long since fallen out of the tradition of exchange. Back in his grounded days there had never been much interaction with people his age beyond his sister’s company. Despite their rather cunning and mischievious presentation there was not much time for amorous interaction, between the chaos of the war and their groundbreaking research. It had never seemed lonely so long as Clauida was at his side, then after… Then after, Shiro was more prone to observation than participation.

Even though his experience with the holiday was slightly fresher, Kuroh found that the customes reaped every Feburary were little more than a pestering headache. In the village where he’d lived with Ichigen Miwa, there’d been a shortage of eligible bachelors, in fact many of the residence were already married and starting their own families. However, through the periphery of his youth he’d spotted the occasional woman nervously delivering a package of homemade goods, an offering to their local celebrity, who always accepted with a gracious smile, without any sense of obligation to future courtship. 

Kuroh himself had never noticed the toll of time, or the fact that he’d grown into one of those rare bachelors until his 16th year when a girl, the niece of their local grocer and new to the neighborhood, shoved a misshapen parsal into his hands. The burnt smell within had wafted through his nostrils in an instant. He’d stared with great shock as the girl bolted immediately afterward, and Master Ichigen had chuckled softly once they’d cleared earshot. His hand landed reassuringly upon his pupil’s shoulder. Kuroh had not derived much pleasure from the experience as a whole, not entirely fond of sweets himself, or the awkward exchanges faced thereafter whenever they were in need of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The outlier of the group thrived in Neko. Growing up as a cat she had little opportunity for the festive give and take of Valentine’s Day. As a gorgeous young woman who loved snacks, she found this to be one of the greatest shortcomings of her generally exciting lifestyle. She did not care much about the romance associated with the holiday, she was not lonely anymore with her Shiro, and Kurosuke to keep her company. However, she certainly saw the appeal, people proving their interest by providing delicious snacks, with no serious commitment upon the acceptance of the treat.

As a new student at Ashinaka High School, Valentine’s Day sailed by with another festival. Kukuri claimed that instead of swapping cookies and tainting the educational environment with unwarranted declarations of love, the high school would direct that energy towards paper mache, costumes, and art! Neko had noticed with much amusement that this claim did not sway several of the boys from edging around the territory, throwing hopeful glances in their direction, until finally a pack, lead by Mishina, swarmed the unsuspecting girl with gifts and cards. It was a highly amusing transgression until Neko realized that not a single boy in the jumble had meant to gain her attention.

“It’s probably because you’re so new!” Kukuri had attempted to consol once she’d vanquished the so called disturbance. “Don’t worry, I’m sure next Valentine's Day you’ll get plenty of sweets!”

After she’d accepted the hypothesis, and regained her prior enthusiasm, Neko had bounced home to see if perhaps the two boys who knew her best had prepared anything in her honor. And there it was, that funny look on her face, curious when Shiro returned to the apartment after a long day of lectures, plopping a tiny package on their coffee table before retreating to relax on the bed.

“What is it, Shiro?” Neko asked, the enthusiasm rich in her voice as she bounded to examine the parcel. 

“Just a little gift from one of my students,” he sighed in explanation rolling his stiff shoulders back, and relishing the pull of the stretch. 

“From a student?” it was Kuroh piping in, there was a disapproving look on his face, as he leaned out from the kitchen, apron in place, and something that looked a lot like flower spread across his nose. 

“Yummy!” Neko cawed as she unwrapped the gift revealing a decorated box of chocolates to her curious stare.

“You can have it if you like,” Shiro replied, smiling at the young woman before turning his attention to Kuroh, still looming in the doorframe. “Don’t worry, Kuroh, it’s nothing lecherous, she brought them in for everyone, the other students too.”

“And you accepted?” the disapproval still clear in Kuroh’s voice.

Shiro replied with a quiet smile, “There’s nothing wrong with a little holiday spirit.”

“Yeah!” Neko agreed, licking her lips as she scarfed down three of the chocolates immediately, popping one after the other, mushing them together in her mouth as one chocolatey glob. They were obviously store bought, but it was better than nothing. Though he did not appear entirely convinced, Kuroh at least seemed to be moving on from the impropriety of accepting a Valentines day gift from a student. The accusation in his expression was morphing into something closer to exasperation. He’d turned his attention to Neko now. 

“You’ll ruin your appetite.”

“Neko is tired of fish!” she announced with exaggerated resistance. At this proclamation both men stared at her with individual interpretations of doubt.

“In that case I’ll stop cooking it for you,” Kuroh challenged. He’d taken up the role of chef without complaints, it was a part of his nature, he enjoyed the task of caretaker, the thoughtfulness that was prescribed to every meal. The sated looks of his two friends were yet another inspiration. He kept this much to himself as he stared Neko down. He loved to cook for people who appreciated his efforts, but Neko’s spoiled and unwieldy attitude often drove him to the edge of his patience. He could see the panic swarming in her eyes as she measured his bluff, not sure if it was safe to resist with dinner on the line.

“No!” she backpedaled. “I’m tired of fish because it’s Valentines Day! And on Valentines Day you’re supposed to eat chocolates and cake!”

“On Valentines Day you’re supposed to embarrass yourself and and confess sordid intentions, not fall into the vapid trap set up by commercial companies. Besides,” he leveled her with a challenging glare. “Chocolate is toxic for cats.” 

“Stupid, Kurosuke!” Neko spat back, at the end of her argument. After aggressively shoving the final chocolate into her mouth, she leapt towards the bed where Shiro sat observing the altercation with a look of fond exasperation.

He pet Neko’s hair comfortingly, sitting back to brace against the wall.

“I think Valentines Day is about putting your heart on the line. Telling the one you fancy how you truly feel, for better or for worse.” He smiled then, “Of course it’s hard to experience it in full from an airship, so I’m no expert, but it sounds nice… In theory.” 

When he looked up, Kuroh was staring at him with an indecipherable expression on his face, and Neko, on the other side of him, was grinning, her interest renewed once more. 

“And to eat cake with them if all goes well!” she amended. “And if not, steal their cake and then there is more for you anyway!”

“You’re relentless,” Kuroh sighed.

“And you’re still making fish for dinner, right?”

Shiro laughed, Neko smiled, pleased with Shiro’s amusement, and Kuroh pivoted back into the kitchen to finish cooking up their supper.

It was the next evening, the evening after Valentines Day, as they closed off their meal, and Shiro raised his hands to offer the usual thanks when Kuroh cut him off. 

“I made dessert for tonight,” he announced in a firm voice though his eyes avoided the startled expressions of both of his companions.

“Dessert?” Shiro parroted, as Neko blinked appraisingly. 

“You know,” Kuroh shrugged, eyeing the young woman between them. “Since you made such a big deal over it yesterday…”

Her reaction was immediate.

“Yay! Thank you, Kurosuke! Sweet dessert, you do like Valentine’s Day after all!” Neko exclaimed. She’d leaped once more in total disregard of personal space to wrap her arms tight around his slender frame. It was far easier to get a hold of him when he was seated and closer to her own height. As he’d suffered the indignities of Neko’s closeness on many occasions in the past, he’d more or less grown used to the treatment. Inexplicably, the color of his cheeks deepened to a light pink, as he wriggled out of her grasp.

“I don’t like Valentine’s Day,” he grunted, already retreating towards the kitchen. “But you obviously put meaning into it…”

As he trailed off Neko and Shiro exchanged jolly smiles. “Thank you, Kuroh!” Shrio called after him.

It turned out that Kuroh had baked a fresh fruit tart, that despite not having any chocolate still tasted incredible. Shiro demanded seconds following his initial slice, and Neko thirds, so that none of the cake remained by the end of the sitting. 

“Wow, Kuroh,” Shiro sat back at last, patting his deliciously full stomach. “It was decedent!”

“It was nothing,” he replied softly, gathering the plates in preparation of the clean up.

However, his hand was pinned to the table before he could rise to his feet. Neko was at his side again, staring at him with her mixed match eyes and that suspicious little grin. 

“The sweet dessert was yummy, Kurosuke. But cake only covers part of the process.” 

Before any reply could be formulated, or the meaning behind that look could dawn on him, the hold around Kuroh’s hand tightened and a pair of smooth lips pecked lightly against the side of his cheek.

“Yes, Kuroh,” it was Shiro’s voice floating into his ear. He too was suddenly closer than anticipated. An odd intoxication flooded Kuroh’s mind as if it had been wine instead of cake. The skin where Neko’s lips had landed still blazed in an echo of her kiss.

“Thank you for the sweets,” Shiro’s voice was a whisper curling around his ear. Then, a second pair of lips pressed slower to the opposite side of his face.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” they said in near unison, sandwiching their baker between two warm bodies, and delaying the process of his chores. Kuroh, to his credit, loosened his grip slightly around the sullied plates, and let himself be held for the moment. 

“You idiots,” he murmured sweetly as they smiled against his cheeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated :)


End file.
